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529 payment check not encashed by school, student drops out of college

1. Son enrolled in Fall Semester for 2 courses. Paid fees from personal bank account as the tuition deadline was too close to send from 529 plan as their usual check delivery to school can take 2-3 weeks.

2.  Later son decided to enroll in one more course totaling 3

3.  Sent payment for all 3 courses from 529 as this was a qualified withdrawal and I know school would refund the previously sent money (2 courses)

4.  Son decided to defer his Fall semester and dropped out of Fall semester

5.  School issued a check for the 2 courses paid from personal bank account

6. School did not encash the 529 check (for 3 courses) and sent it back to us

 

Vanguard (529 plan) says since the school has not encashed the check and sent a refund to the plan owner, cannot do a recontribution to the same student. Instead they can stop payment and contribute the amount to another (student's brother) account as a rollover contribution to avoid Tax consequence.

 

Is there any other option around this?

 

Thank you

 

 

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2 Replies
Hal_Al
Level 15

529 payment check not encashed by school, student drops out of college

That doesn't make sense.   I would talk to somebody else at Vanguard.  

 

If the check is cancelled, the distribution was cancelled (there was no distribution).  Vanguard may mistakenly issue a 1099-Q, but an erroneous 1099-Q can usually be ignored. 

529 payment check not encashed by school, student drops out of college

I spoke to 3 different advisors at Vanguard all gave the same reply. Thanks for your response.

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